Politics

• Friday, November 26th 2010 - 02:22 UTC

  Paraguay readies vote on Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur as full member

  

  The Paraguayan Executive sent this week to congress a bill requesting the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur. Paraguay’s legislative confirmation is the last step to complete the long process, begun in 2006, for Venezuela to become a full member of the South American block currently made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

• Friday, November 26th 2010 - 02:18 UTC

  Uruguay’s Lower House approves Unasur; Senate votes next Tuesday

  

  Uruguay’s Lower House approved on Thursday the Unasur (Union of South American Nations) constitution protocol sending a strong message of support to the group’s summit in Guyana.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 21:25 UTC

  First time ever woman president (for a few days) in Uruguay

  

  Uruguay’s First Lady and speaker of the main Senate group in the ruling coalition Lucia Topolansky will be sworn as interim president on Friday, the first woman-president in the history of the Uruguayan democracy.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 21:24 UTC

  Germany out of the woods and heading for full employment, says minister

  

  Germany’s Economy minister Rainer Bruederle has given an upbeat assessment of his country's recovery, including the assertion that “full employment will soon be possible”. He said that Germans were “doing well and spending again”, and that domestic consumption was strong.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 20:44 UTC

  “Favelas’ war” rages in Rio do Janeiro for fifth day running: 30 dead

  

  Armoured personnel carriers from the Brazilian navy rolled through smoke-filled streets in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday as police battled (favelas) slum-based drug gangs for a fifth consecutive day leaving at least 30 dead and almost 200 arrested.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 04:34 UTC

  Latinamerica not involved in an arms race and can further reduce defence costs

  

  Latinamerican countries are not involved in an arms race and can further cut into military expenditure because it is essentially a region of peace, said the Defence ministers of the Americas IXth conference meeting in Bolivia.

• Thursday, November 25th 2010 - 04:26 UTC

  The Economist analyzes Uruguay’s debate on rejecting the “Expiration Law”

  

  Néstor Kirchner Argentina’s late former president first became popular by pushing for the repeal of the amnesties and pardons that prior governments had granted to members of the country’s bloody 1976-83 dictatorship. Argentines cheered when the Supreme Court ruled the laws unconstitutional in 2005, and have supported the hundreds of prosecutions for human-rights abuses that have been launched since then.

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 21:21 UTC

  Falklands/Malvinas: Brazil joins Argentina in criticizing UK’s “unilateral actions”

  

  The Brazilian government questioned UK’s “unilateral actions” regarding the (Falklands) Malvinas Islands and called for the sovereignty “long standing dispute” to reach “as soon as possible a solution”.

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 21:02 UTC

  Promoting trade and political links with Africa, Lula da Silva’s next job

  

  A Lula da Silva Institute will be fully involved in Africa, the world’s poorest continent, and (Brazilian) President Lula will be fully dedicated to that task when he steps down from office next January first, announced a top Brazilian official.

• Wednesday, November 24th 2010 - 20:21 UTC

  IMF mission arrives in Buenos Aires first week of December

  

  The International Monetary Fund confirmed Argentina’s request for technical assistance on the elaboration of a Consumer Price Index (CPI). In a statement release by Nicolas Eyzaguirre, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department added “we are currently in contact with the authorities on planning the missions”.